My Friend Of Misery
by Raidou The 16th
Summary: These times are sent to try men's souls, but something is wrong with all you see. You'll take it all on yourself. Remember, misery loves company.
1. Tears for remembrance, and tears for joy

**Hello. Long time no see. Yeah, I know, it's been a huge while since I last wrote something. I went through stuff, you know, life caught up, things happened... I really had no time, or even the inspiration to do anything creative. But that's been changing slightly, lately. I came up with this one day during a boring class, and I started to have fun with it, so I continued it. The result is what you're about to read. I used, again, a friend's oc. If you expect your standart default p3, or p4 story, I suggest you head back. But if you just feel like reading something angsty, I'm delighted to make your acquaintance. Heheh. Ahem... one last thing before we start. You might want to search for the title of this chapter, for it is the name of the song which inspired me. Either that, or a song called Poor Twisted Me. It's awesome, and it is not mine. Disclaimers. Enough ranting, let's get this started.**

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><p>"Mari!"<p>

The call from the capped teenager reached her ears, and the raven haired, fairly short and blue eyed girl instinctively turned her head towards him. She immediately remembered that she'd forgotten to hide her dark red wristband, and knowing her only friend well, she knew she was in for an earful.

The boy walked at a brisk pace towards her and almost slammed his hands on her table, before pointing at her wristband.

"What are you doing?!" He nearly shouted using a stern, but concerned tone.

Mari then tried to look up to his scowling face, but wasn't able to make eye contact. He'd told her so many times, she'd already lost count, but still... she did it again.

The boy grabbed a nearby chair and sat across her. Then he extended his hands, almost in a demanding manner towards her.

"Show me your hands." He told her.

She bit her bottom lip and looked away slightly, before finally bringing her hands upon his.

The sight before the boy deeply saddened him.

In front of him lay a bleeding wrist, a bloody knife, and a bloodstained handkerchief.

He looked at her face, with disappointment in his expression. He then took her clean hand, gathered her bloody belongings and dragged her to the girl's restroom in the first floor of the school.

Upon arriving, he took her to the sink and carefully washed her bleeding wrist. If she was really trying to kill herself, she'd slit her vein wide open with a vertical cut along her forearm, instead of simply cutting shallow wounds on her wrist.

He took out a pack of bandages from his backpack and quietly patched her wounds. After he was done, he put her wristband over the bandages and examined her face. She was still looking away, as if fearing a reprimand from him. He then took a deep breath to try and erase all the sternness from his tone.

"What was it, this time?" He tried to ask as kindly as possible.

She finally turned to meet his concerned gaze. So many things were passing through her mind when she was doing that... She was punishing herself for being such a helpless person, she was trying to see her blood and test her reality, she was hoping that she was dreaming, while also wishing for everything to be real... she was hypnotized by the crimson slowly flowing out of her skin. But one thing was different from the other times...

She was no longer thinking about killing herself.

He had brought the fear of death into her life.

"I..." She started, but didn't know how to finish. She had so much to explain, the words simply got lost in their way to her mouth.

He understood her lack of words, and simply hugged her.

"It's okay..." He whispered in her ear. "I'm here."

He didn't need to read through every thought that passed through her head to understand her feelings. Mari was a very depressive girl... she'd always think that no one cared if she was there or not, that she was a waste of space... And when he entered in her life and got to know her better, he always tried his best to keep her well and smiling. He tried to be by her side at every moment.

Because he understood her all too well.

He knew what it was like to have no one caring about him. Not even his father seemed to bother.

He also thought several times about ending his own life. But one day, he met her, and even with his own problems, he always tried to help her, because in her, he found someone to protect. He felt important to someone for the first time in his life, and never did he think about suicide again.

She had brought the fear of death into his life.

She took some seconds to respond, but she eventually returned the hug.

"I'm sorry..." She said.

He felt the left side his chest getting wet and warm with her tears. "It's okay..." He broke away from the hug and gently placed his hand on her cheek. "I won't leave you." He gave her time to wipe her tears, then put her knife in his backpack.

"This will be staying with me, though." He scolded her slightly. "I do not want to see you hurting yourself again, okay?"

She sniffed once more. "I'll try..."

He smiled slightly. That was not the most definitive answer, but it was still progress, and he was satisfied with that. Changing a life took time, after all, and it wasn't like he was the most experienced person in the fields of friendship, either, so he'd be happy with every smile he took from her, with every step forward they took together.

One day, he'd see her smiling happily, without a spot of sadness in her bright heart.

He shook his head to snap out of his light daze. "Now come on. School's been out for a while, now." He waited for her small nod and smile to take her hand and leave the girl's room.

...

"So, class E's little emo's turned into a full fledged whore, huh? How many dudes has she taken to that filthy bathroom using that pathetic pity act of hers, just so she could get some?" The piercing wearing, blond teenager asked himself after witnessing the two making their 'sweet escape'.

He smirked. "I guess it's my turn, next..."

He cracked his knuckles as he left.

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><p><strong>First chapter's done. I really don't expect you to, but if you want to, you can leave your opinion in a review. That'd make me very happy. See you next chapter.<strong>


	2. No remorse

**Sup. So... another chapter. Same thing as before. Not much to talk about, today, sooo... let`s get this started. Warning: Mature content up ahead.**

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><p>Days have passed. Mari kept living her school life alongside her, and the cuts on her wrist had healed. Her wristband did not hide bandages beneath them, anymore, and she was not missing the sight of her own blood at all. She was smiling more and more often, and every time she thought about death, her friend would come to save her.<p>

One day, she saw her friend storming suddenly out of the classroom while holding his cell phone to his ear.

Even the teacher was left speechless in front of that sudden outburst. That boy was always so calm and collected... in fact, he almost never spoke to anyone, except-

SLAM

... Except the girl who had just followed after him. The teacher thought about following them, but... she'd rather not interfere with those adolescents' affairs. She called the class' attention and continued her lecture.

...

Mari ran in her clumsy way in search for her friend, and managed to find him in a nearby hallway. He was flipping his phone closed with a grim expression. She approached him and tried to understand what happened.

"What's wrong," she asked. "Are you okay?"

Her voice made him turn towards her. He didn't know she was there until she spoke up, but he did hear the door slamming after he left the classroom, so he shouldn't have been surprised.

"It's my mother... she collapsed. Again. Hell, I told her not to push herself again, and yet... ugh," he said, as he punched the locker near him.

"W-will she be okay...?" Mari asked. She didn't know how to support him, but she could at least try...

"I don't know, but I must go check on her," he said, determined. "I'm sorry, but I'll be going now. Later," he stated, and wasted no time darting off. He lived fairly close to the school, so running was the quickest way, since he did not have a bike.

"Wait," Mari yelled and followed after him, but he was much too fast for her. He even left his belongings there... How serious was his mother's condition? Was she going to be okay? Actually... how much trouble did he have in his hands...?

Would he be okay?

... Was she just being another burden in his life?

Then the bell rang, snapping her out of her daze.

No, she couldn't have thought that. They were special to each other, and she was sure her bond with him was stronger than that. She shook away the train of thought and returned to her classroom.

After the awkward last period, the final bell rang, signaling the end of the school day. Mari was still worried about her friend. She wanted to help him, but in the end, she knew nothing about his problems and felt as though she'd just slow him down, so she found it rational to wait until she knew him better. Until then, all she could do was to get him to open up. She sighed to herself as she took the last bite of the apple of the apple she was eating, threw the remains in the classroom's trash can, gathered her belongings and walked out of the classroom.

Huh... she was making a habit out of leaving the school late. Maybe because her friend always stayed with her for a while before walking her home. Leaving school without him felt strange...

"I just hope he's okay," She mused aloud.

She lowered her head for a brief moment, concerned about her friend. However, her thoughts were interrupted by a whisper which came from behind her.

"Hello, sweetheart."

She jumped slightly due to the scare, and quickly turned around to meet the owner of that husky voice. She had to look up to meet his face, and when she did, her attention was immediately drawn to the silver piercing under his bottom lip.

"Oh, sorry, did I startle you," He asked using the same tone as before.

"B-Bruce, what are you doing here..." Mari asked while slowly backing away.

Bruce McGovney. The boy she'd learned to avoid since she transferred into the school. He was a member of the rugby team, and despite not being buff or bulky, he was fairly tall. He always had his blond hair slicked back, and was usually wearing a denim jacket over the schools black t-shirt. Rumors had it that he was pretty popular with the ladies and got basically every girl he wanted... but it's also said that not every girl he wanted shared the same feeling.

"Don't worry." He took two steps, making it so the girl was standing between him and the wall behind her. "I just came here to talk," he said, as he took a step forward, and Mari backed away slightly.

"You see, I saw you leaving the girl's room holding hands with that capped douche, a while ago." He took another step forward. "There's no need to be shy... I know you two were doing something there..."

Mari broke into a cold sweat. They did nothing in the bathroom... Hell, they never did anything at all, they were friends! It was not like that! She tried to find words to speak, but the tension was making it troublesome for her to come up with a response.

"So..." Bruce took another step forward, and this time he put a hand on the wall behind Mari, leaving her no more space to back away. Then he brought his face closer to hers. "... How was it," he asked, feigning an alluring tone.

Mari said nothing, and turned her face away.

"Come on, don't act so ashamed..." He used his right hand to turn her face back towards him. She still didn't respond.

"Answer me!" He squeezed her face with his hand. "Was he sweet? What did he taste like," Bruce asked, increasing the venom in his voice with each word.

"... did he do this to you," he softened his tone, and as he said that, he used his right hand to grab her breasts. He squeezed both of them quite hard, sending shivers down Mari's spine.

Mari's eyes widened greatly while she blushed profusely, but not out of passion. She was so ashamed, frustrated and afraid that she took some seconds to finally react and try to push him away and start screaming.

He did not care, however, and started kissing her neck, while he moved his hand down from her breasts, lower and lower, until it was on her waist.

Then he reached inside of her underwear. She screamed again, desperately. She couldn't believe what was happening, the only thing she could do was scream and try to push him back.

However, her screams didn't last for too long, as Bruce covered her mouth.

"Shhhh... Just be quiet and enjoy the moment," he hissed.

She kept screaming under his hand, but he paid little mind. She tried to kick around and flail her arms, but her legs were not responding and her arms weren't of much use. She tried to punch him and push him, but it was like pushing a wardrobe against a wall.

Then, Bruce heard footsteps coming. He couldn't be caught like this. If he could hear the footsteps even through Mari's muffled screams, then the person must've been pretty close...

Bruce then quickly wrapped his arms around Mari and kissed her, as softly as he could.

She tried to break away and set herself free from his grip, but he was much too strong.

She eventually gave up and let her arms rest beside her.

So that was what a kiss felt like... She didn't want her first time to be like this...

The footsteps suddenly stopped a few meters away from them, and the person began tapping their foot on the ground impatiently. It was the biology teacher.

He cleared his throat loudly, and waited for the two to break away.

"What do you two think you are doing," he asked sternly.

"Sorry..." Bruce scratched the back of his head. "We got a bit carried away, and..."

"I don't want to know," the teacher cut him off. "This isn't the place for that. Go home, you two," He demanded.

Mari opened her mouth to speak, but Bruce quickly swung his arm around her and pulled her closer to him.

"Sure, whatever..." He replied lazily.

"What did you say?!" The teacher was aggravated by Bruce's insolence.

"Relax, man... we're leaving..." Bruce turned away with Mari and started walking. "Geez..."

The teacher scoffed at Bruce, before walking away.

Mari felt a slight opening, and broke away from his grip. Now was her chance! She turned back and tried to follow the teacher.

"Oh, no, you don't!" Bruce, however, was quick to turn around and trip her, making her fall forward.

Then he walked in front of her, and squatted next to her head. "You will not tell anyone about this," He said as he poked her head lightly. "Or else... well... you don't want to see me mad." He stroke her hair gently with a soft smile on his face. "So try to enjoy the time we spend together, okay?" Then he edged his face a bit closer to hers.

"... It's your only choice." He whispered, before standing up. He kicked Mari's backpack towards her and began walking away. "Well, see ya, sweetheart." He waved at her and left.

Mari slowly got up and ran to the girl's room. She furiously washed her mouth, and tried to resist the urge of throwing up to the best of her ability, but it was of no use. She ran to the toilet and let her disgust flow free. She'd been touched, kissed, groped... she felt so dirty, in so many levels... She did not want to go through that ever again. No amount of baths would be able to wash her clean. She washed her mouth again, and took the time to breathe and calm herself down.

She had to think about her situation... She thought about telling the teachers and the principal in the faculty office, but she was much too afraid of Bruce. What'd happen if he got caught and came back, later... she shuddered at the thought.

She thought about telling her friend, but... was it really the right thing to do? He had so much in his plate, already. And she understood that he could not by her side every time. Besides... Bruce was much too strong... even for him.

And that left her with no options... The police was much too busy with bigger cases to care about such 'minor' crimes... Also, defending herself was out of question, since her knife was taken away from her...

Wait.

Her friend left his things at school.

Mari hurried to his locker. She knew his code, since she'd seen him open his locker so many times. She sifted through his backpack and found her knife. She sighed with relief, but then...

Would she be able to use her knife to defend herself?

Would she be able to use her knife to slash, or stab someone?

She gripped the knife tighter. She had to be able to do it. Or else... that... was going to happen over and over again. She had to be able to stand for herself. She wouldn't be able to rely on someone else her entire life, and that change must've started somewhere. Might as well have taken that first step then.

She put his backpack back into his locker and hurried out of the school.

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><p><strong>That`s it, for now. See you next chapter.<strong>


	3. Bloodshot Eyes

**Sup. Back, with another chapter. I hope you guys are enjoying the story, cause there's what? Two chapters till its end? Welp, enjoy this chapter. Warning: Mature content up ahead.**

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><p>... Two days have passed...<p>

Her friend's mother was getting better, but that was all she knew. He still refused to talk about his problems with her. As much as she wanted him to be more open with her though, she understood his silence.

She'd occasionally see Bruce in the hallways, but he hadn't gotten close to her since that time. She never let her guard down, though. Her knife was always in her pocket, hidden even from her friend.

It was near the end of break time. Mari decided to head to the girl's room to repair her make up.

But just as she was turning the door knob, she felt a light tap on her shoulder.

"Hello, sweetheart." She heard from behind her.

She quickly turned around to meet the owner of the voice, and sure enough.

It was Bruce.

"How are you, today?" He asked, as Mari started panicking.

The bell then rang, ending break time.

"Sorry..." Mari apologized, trying to slip away. "B-but I must get going, now... Class is about to start, a-and-"

"Hey..." Bruce got in her way and cut her off mid sentence. "It's history in your class, now, right? I heard you're doing pretty well, so why not just take a break..." He stepped closer. "C'mon... pretty please?"

He was right... Mari's scores in history were pretty high, mostly because it was her favorite subject. But she'd never cut class. Especially history classes.

"No... I really must get going..." She tried to dodge him, but he stepped in her way.

"What's wrong?" He tilted his head slightly to the side. "Don't tell me... are you afraid of me?" He stepped towards her again. "There's no need to be scared..."

Mari felt the threat rising by the second. She took a deep breath and stepped back. She had to keep calm.

"Please, stay back..." She said, as she put a hand over her pocket.

Bruce noticed this and walked forward again, unafraid.

"Oh? What are you gonna do?" He opened his arms widely and continued to approach her.

Mari hesitated for a second, but she held her ground and reached for the knife in her pocket, before pulling it out. She pointed it to Bruce's face, and that halted his advance.

"... Well, that's cute," he said, slightly taken back.

"Please..." Her hand trembled slightly, due to the strength she was using to grip the knife. "Stay. Back." She said, again.

Bruce noticed the small falter, and grinned as he began to study her movements closely.

"Pffft... What could a pretty girl like you do?" He said, as he suddenly leaned forward and got into her face.

Mari yelped slightly, but she couldn't allow herself to be helpless. It was now or never.

She shut her eyes tightly and held her breath as she tried a horizontal slash at his face.

"Whoa!" Bruce, however, was quick to sway back, avoiding the attack swiftly.

Mari attacked again, this time with a downward vertical slash. Bruce managed to barely side step and dodge the strike.

"Ooooh, I love a fast woman!" He taunted.

Mari tried yet another horizontal slash, this time aimed at his throat, but Bruce saw through her movement and caught her wrist.

Mari frantically tried to jerk her hand away, but Bruce didn't let her.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk..." Bruce shook his head, before lifting her up by her wrist, taking her feet off the ground and bringing her face to the same height as his. "This won't do. Didn't I tell you to just go with the flow?"

He then tightened the grip on her weak wrist, and easily took the knife from her hand.

"I guess you won't be needing this..." He said, as he let go of her and put her knife in his jacket's pocket. He didn't even wait for her to catch her breath to press her onto the wall.

"Just enjoy the moment..." He said. Then he briefly kissed her, not giving her time to turn her face away. "Or else, I'll give you real reasons to be afraid..." He continued, as he caressed her cheek.

He crashed his lips onto hers again, and proceeded to reach under her shirt and bra.

Mari was desperately trying to kick and yell, but her screams didn't even go beyond Bruce's mouth. She was panicking, and would have started hyperventilating, if her mouth was free. She wasn't even in the right mind to breathe through her nose, instead of her mouth.

It was happening again, and she could do nothing to stop him.

She was almost giving up, but then she noticed something passing by the corner of her field of sight.

It was her friend!

She tried to scream as loudly as she could, and sure enough, her muffled voice managed to get his attention.

As soon as he laid eyes on her desperate expression, something snapped inside him. He suddenly broke off into a run towards Bruce with blood in his eyes.

"Let go of her!" He growled, catching Bruce's attention.

"Pfft, please. Who the hell- Agh!" Bruce turned towards the guy running after him, but was forcefully interrupted by a flying kick to his face. He staggered back and let go of Mari. She was frantically gasping for air.

He was going to help her up, but Bruce came back and threw a hard straight at his face, knocking him down.

Bruce wiped the blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. "Do you realize what you just did, boy?" He asked, and then smirked arrogantly. "You just signed your death sentence." He cracked his knuckles.

The boy did not even bother getting his cap off the ground, and stood back up. He took his stance and got ready, with a fiery and enraged determination. He only barely knew how to kick, and he was terrible with punches, but...

He had to defend Mari!

The boy charged forward and tried a low swipe at Bruce's legs, but he used his shin to block it. He wasted no time, though, and used the same leg to quickly try a roundhouse at Bruce's face.

It hit quite hard across Bruce's cheek, and made him turn his face away.

He was about to follow up, but Bruce suddenly came back with a wild hook to his face, which hit his face full on, and then followed up with and uppercut to his chin, almost knocking him down.

Bruce then went for a lariat to the boy's face, but he ducked under it. Bruce got mad, and turned around with a round kick to the boy's ribs, but he mustered all of his might to grab Bruce's leg. Then he kicked his other leg from under Bruce, making him land on his back.

The teenager then proceeded to stomp on Bruce's chest and stomach, repeatedly.

That enraged Bruce beyond belief. He used his free leg to kick the boy away from him. Then he stood back up and tried a hay maker to the boy's face, but it was swiftly dodged.

He then tried a knee to the boy's stomach, but he was much too quick, and side stepped the strike, before raising his foot and stomp-kicking Bruce in the face, sending him staggering back and stunning him for a brief moment.

The rugby player was now furious. How in the blue hell was he losing to that little shit?! He saw the boy approaching again and winding up a high roundhouse, but he was not about to have any of that.

Bruce ducked under the kick, and got the opening he wanted.

He knew exactly what to do.

"Let's see you cry, boy," he roared, as he swiftly took Mari's knife from his pocket, and stabbed the boy's arm, making him cream in pain.

Mari stared at the scene wide eyed, and time seemed to stop for a moment as the sight before her burnt into her brain.

"Yashiro!" She screamed the boy's name, in desperation.

Bruce wasn't done, however. That vermin deserved to suffer much, much more.

He dragged the knife forcefully under his skin, widening the wound and forcing pained screams out of his lungs. The blood flowing from his arm was now forming a crimson pool by his side.

Mari could stand the sight of her own blood very well, but to see Yashiro's arm like this... so much blood... She felt her head getting lighter and passed out.

Yashiro looked at his wound... there was a lot of blood flowing from his left arm. The amount of red leaving through the opening was staggering. The sight of his blood even left a bitter taste in his mouth.

Then, he felt something else snap inside of him again, but this time, it was something much bigger... like a wild beast trying desperately to break out of his brain and repeatedly beating against the cage's bars.

His vision began to be filled with shades of red, and the next thing he felt was his right hand gathering the wind around it. He didn't know what he was doing, or how he was doing that, but his mind was too far gone for him to care about that.

Bruce watched perplexed as the phenomenon before him unfolded. What the fuck was going on with that kid?!

Without thinking, he used his wind infused hand to grab Bruce by the hair, and smashed his face against the wall, leaving him dazed and with his nose bleeding.

Yashiro then leaned back, almost as if winding a baseball throw, and launched him back with a brutal hay maker to his face, which made him scream in pain.

He felt, and heard Bruce's nose breaking under his fist as the punch connected, and he felt a big rush of satisfaction.

The feeling, the sound, the scream...

He wanted more of Bruce's suffering.

Yashiro absently started walking towards the unconscious Bruce with a trail of blood following his steps, and a wide and wild grin plastered on his face...

But he never made it to Bruce, as he suddenly blacked out and collapsed on the floor.

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><p><strong>I guess it was about time I included some action here. Hope you liked it, and I wanna know what you thought of it so... the review box is right there. See you later. <strong>


	4. Tears for somebody, not this lonely boy

...

"Miss O'brien!"

Mari woke up at the mention of her last name. She blinked twice and took a brief look at her surroundings: the room she was in was mostly white, the windows were closed and the lights were on. They were some very bright lights, at that, and they made her eyes hurt. She blinked rapidly to try and adapt to the lighting, and after rubbing her eyes, she noticed that she was laid on an unusually uncomfortable bed.

There was also a police officer side by the bed's side.

"Miss Schröeder, are you okay?" The officer asked, concerned. "Are you able to talk?"

Mari sat up straight on the bed. She didn't know what the officer wanted with her, so she decided to act politely.

"Yes. What is it you need?" She asked, without sarcasm in her tone. She briefly glanced at the officer's chest pocket... officer Copeland, was the name written on it.

The officer raised and eyebrow, but soon regained his composure. "It's about what happened earlier today. You were found unconscious along with other two badly injured teenagers, one with a dangerous wound on his left arm. They're both being treated in this hospital."

... Of course Mari knew what the officer was there for... Of course she knew what happened.

She just wanted to believe that none of that was real. It'd be so great if she could truthfully say it was all just a nightmare.

But alas, she couldn't. She knew all too well that everything was true.

"I must ask you to try and rememb-" Officer Copeland was abruptly cut off by Mari breaking into tears and loud sobs. She was crying compulsively, and it didn't look like she was going to stop anytime soon.

"Uhhh... Miss Schröeder..." The officer tried to put a reassuring hand on her shoulder...

But Mari slapped his hand away. Hard.

"Miss Schröeder, please, calm down..." Officer Copeland tried to get her to settle down.

Mari suddenly stopped sobbing.

The bloody memory flashed in her mind, and triggered something in her.

"... Yashiro," she whispered absently.

"Don't worry," The officer tried to reassure her. "Tsukigata is under the care of the very best-"

"Yashiro!" Mari screamed at the top of her lungs. She shot out of her bed and ran towards the door.

Officer Copeland ran after her, as she was desperately trying to pry open the tightly locked door. He reached for her shoulder, but Mari slapped her again very hard, and he staggered back a bit. The officer didn't understand how her hand had gotten so hot. His cheek hurt a lot, at that moment.

He saw himself with no choice. He picked up the syringe with sedative which the nurse had left on the bedside table, approached the uncontrollable Mari, and shot the sedative in her neck.

Mari began to feel light headed and her conscience started slipping away. She unwillingly let go of the door handle, and her legs gave out from under her.

The last thing she saw was officer Copeland burning his hand when he touched the door handle. Then, she passed out.

...

Mari woke up, and took a look at her surroundings. The Cherry Les Paul on the stand at the corner, the Dream Theater poster hanging on the door, and red pillow she was resting her head upon were clear hints of where she was. It was her room.

She also felt a depression by her side on the mattress.

"Maryann Schröeder O'brien..." Mari's mother called her by her whole name.

This made Mari sit up on her bed. She tried to rub her eyes, but they stung a lot... She must have cried a whole river...

Her mother had a furious look on her face. Mari knew that expression very well.

"What the hell did you get yourself into, this time?!" She practically spat the question.

Mari began to tear up, again. She choked upon her words and didn't seem to be able to speak for the moment.

Her silence only served to aggravate her mother, who was already fuming.

"Answer me, damn it!"

Her mother slapped her hard across the cheek.

Mari yelped in pain. Her mother continued her mad rant.

"First, those punk shows! Then drugs! And now this?!" She screamed at the top of her lungs.

It was true... Mari had done heavy drugs, once. Those, paired with her anti-depression medicines had sent her to a quite long stay in the hospital, and some more weeks of treatment and detoxification. But that Mari was long gone... she had changed drastically since Yashiro entered her life.

... Yashiro...

"Seriously, what the fuck's wrong with you?! You cause nothing but trouble, and you bring nothing but problems to this house! What the Hell did I do to deserve this?!" Her mother wasn't about to stop, however. "Hell, how did you even manage to enter your school with a damned knife! What were you gonna use that for?!"

Mari bit her bottom lip quite hard. She was already beginning to taste blood in her mouth.

"Oh, I get it! You tried to attack that little friend of yours because he hit your boyfriend, didn't you?"

That caught Mari's attention.

It... it wasn't like that.

"That kid's arm was cut by your knife, and your biology teacher said he saw you and that blond kid kissing in the hallways!" Her mother hastily deduced.

Mari looked at her thirty-one years old mother with sadness and disgust. She'd like to think it was all a ploy, that her mother was a fake, but she knew very well how much her mother hated her.

Margaret Schröeder gave birth to Mari when she was only 15, and the father, David O'brien left her to take care of the child by herself. She hated her job, her life... she had David as her devil, and Mari as the cross she was obliged to carry.

"It has to be it! Right?! You psychotic little bitch?!" Margaret slapped her again. Hard. She was sick and tired of Mari's problems. As much as she raised Mari just because she wanted the right to say that she was better then David for not running away, there was a limit to her pride and tolerance. Mari had pushed against her limits far too many times, already.

Mari sobbed quietly. She'd never hurt Yashiro... she got it all wrong.

Margaret grunted, shook her head, and stormed out of Mari's room, fuming. She'd probably gone out to drink, again...

Mari was left there, crying. Why was all of that happening to her? Why did Yashiro have to get hurt because of her? Was he going to be okay? What happened to Bruce? Did the police really think that she was the one who did that to Yashiro?

No, she doubted it... Bruce must have left some evidence pointing to himself.

But still...

Was she really not at fault?

She said she'd try to stand up on her own defend herself... but all she ended up doing was putting the knife in Bruce's hands...

And she'd only thought about getting her knife back because she didn't have enough faith in Yashiro...

Now, her knife was stained with his blood.

She got herself in trouble, she couldn't stand for herself, she had no faith in her friend, and in the end, it was him who paid the price...

He must've been hating her so much, at that moment...

She'd failed him... betrayed his friendship in so many levels she doubted he'd ever forgive her. She could already hear his voice shouting in her ears...

"You pathetic waste of space!"

"You dead-weight!"

"Now I get why no one likes you, you skank!"

His voice got more and more menacing with each sentence.

"I honestly don't know why I cared about you!"

"Your mother has every right to hate you!"

"Your father was damn smart when he left you!"

"You worthless slut! You should fucking kill yourself!"

His voice screamed the last sentence so loud, it made her head hurt immensely, as if a bullet had just passed through her skull.

And his voice kept screaming in her head, shooting word after word at her brain.

This was his disgust... his hatred towards her speaking to her.

His voice kept haunting her for she doesn't know how many hours. Her teeth were clenched, and she was clutching her head all the while.

She... she couldn't live like this... this pain was too much for her.

She had to apologize, somehow.

...

'Forgive me for my helplessness, my selfishness, and my faithlessness.

Forgive me for being nothing but a burden in your life.

Forgive me for not being able to do anything by myself.

Forgive me for only bringing you down.

Forgive me for hurting you.

Forgive me, Tsume...

Mari.'

Yashiro read the letter to himself, and his heart clenched whenever he saw the blood in the corner of the letter. He'd always felt weak for not being there to reassure her, even after all this time.

And even today, the letter would bring tears to his eyes, but they'd always come quietly.

He stored the letter back into his wallet and sank back into the couch in the dorm's lounge. So much had changed since then... he had learned boxing, he had settled the score with his father, he had left his mother in a considerably good condition, he had moved from England to Japan... he had changed a lot.

But still, her memory remained. Her unnecessary apologies were still buried in his wallet, and in his mind.

He sighed to himself. He was now in a mission to save people through his powers, but deep down, he was just in for the thrills of the kills. He could release all his tension and aggression upon the masks of all the Shadows he wanted...

But it wasn't enough.

No matter how physically strong he was, his heart would never be strong enough to overcome the whole she left there. No matter how much he let his anger go free, he'd never get over his frustration.

Then he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Dude, you okay?" Kanashi asked. Yashiro wasn't aware of his presence until now, but that wasn't much of an issue.

"Oh... I'm cool." Yashiro vacantly answered.

Kanashii knew he wasn't really okay, but respected his silence. If he didn't want to talk about, Kanashi wasn't gonna push it.

"If you say so... Well, I'm gonna go grab a bite to eat. You coming along? Gotta be ready for tonight's operation, and you look a little blue," Kanashi invited.

Yashiro sighed at that, but he was slowly gathering the will to get up from the comfy couch.

"C'mon, dude. I feel like I can knock you with one punch when you're like that." Kanashi taunted.

Yashiro finally stood up. "There, I'm up. Happy?"

"Hmmm... not sure. I still believe that I could break you like a twig, right now." Kanashi smirked, as he taunted Yashiro again.

Yashiro deadpanned. "You want to put that to test?"

Kanashi walked up to Yashiro and patted his back. "Now, that's the spirit. Let's go, there are fries awaiting!"

Yashiro finally sighed and left the dorm along with Kanashi.

Although, one question was still eating away at his brain.

Would he ever be afraid of dying, again?

* * *

><p><strong>Welp, that's done. See y'all in another story.<br>**


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